Anyone Use Black Sand?

I kmow patrickwest uses it in one of his tanks. I have a mixed bed of it and have used it in the past. I rhink it looks great in my own.

Detritus does show up more. And it doesnt reflect light back up from the substrate as well. But otherwise its nice stuff.

 

I have it, and yes, nasty stuff shows up against it very well. There is also a bit of a debate on if it is magnetic or not; it tends to stick to cleaning magnets very well. I think its more of a grain size thing, but be aware in an acrylic tank you have to watch your magnets carefully. It also doesn't dissolve and help buffer the tank. Personally, the next tank I set up will have aragonite sand.

 

Wait... The stuff that I have in my tank is aragonite and will buffer PH... Its Hawaiian black... Same stuff from caribsea

 

I'm going to bet money agra-alive is a trade name, rather then it meaning its aragonite. I've had it in my tank for 5 years now and the level is exactly the same as the day I first added water. Mine is the Caribsea stuff. I've also noticed snails aren't too hip on sifting it, but I do get burrows from pistol shrimp and crabs. The white sand I have in my sump has needed to be replenished a whole bunch of times tho.

 

I doubt the black sand is aragonite. You can check yourself by putting some vinegar on it. If it dissolves is aragonite based.

 

Hawaiian black is more likely volcanic quartz rock that has been crushed. If you compare the two I bet it's not as smooth as pure aragonite and comes from......where else Hawaii

 

The vinegar teat ia spot on. Though I am not sure about the origins. They cannot claim to buffer eithout being able to. Therw are also whiter flecks in it.

Though if it were quarts then it should be labeled as silica sands. Which would not be ourified like 99.9 quickrete ultra fine silica. (And depending on what you want to believe) w I uld according to some cause huge algae blooms due to silicate leaching.

Ill pull a handfull out tonight and melt it down. If it is just quartzed rocks from volcanic areas then there would be iron in it among other impurities. Which could make it magnetic... hmmm

 

Intrested to see the results! If there are a few white specs of aragonite in there that would probably be enough to cover their claim for buffering.

 

I've been using the Hawaiian black sand by CaribSea for over a year.
My tank is 90% sps and and they don't seem to mind.
The only thing I don't like is that it does take more work to keep it clean.
Also the black sand won't reflect light like normal sand so my tank isn't as bright as it once was.

My .02